The Orioles have agreed to a minor league contract with first baseman Jesus Montero, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (via Twitter). Montero, formerly one of the top prospects in all of baseball, will open the season in the midst of a 50-game suspension, which he received in September (as a member of the Blue Jays organization) after testing positive for a banned stimulant (dimethylbutylamine).

Now 27 years old, Montero rated as the No. 3 prospect in the game according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus prior to the 2011 season. However, his defense behind the plate was long somewhat of a question mark, and he’s moved to first base since that time in part due to his large frame (6’3″, 235 pounds). Montero’s bat was always supposed to be his ticket to regular work in the Majors, but he underwhelmed in parts of four seasons with Seattle after being traded from the Yankees to the Mariners in the 2011 Michael Pineda deal. In those four years with the M’s, Montero batted a lackluster .247/.285/.383 in the Majors. He’s continued to hit well at the Triple-A level (.305/.357/.491 career), but at this point his best chance at making the Orioles’ roster upon completion of his suspension is as a right-handed-hitting bench bat that can spend some time at DH and occasionally spell Chris Davis at first base.

Blue Jays Triple-A first baseman Jesus Montero has been slapped with a fifty game suspension after testing positive for a banned stimulant, dimethylbutylamine, the league announced. Montero was once a hyped prospect, but has been trying unsuccessfully to revive his career in recent years.

Montero, 26, never panned out with the Mariners after he was shipped to Seattle in exchange for Michael Pineda in rare swap of high-end young talents who had each reached the majors. All said, Montero owns a .253/.295/.398 big league batting line in his 865 career plate appearances.

This year was the first since 2011 in which Montero failed to earn any MLB action. He did post a strong .317 batting average over 518 Triple-A plate appearances. But he only walked 23 times, resulting in a .349 OBP, and didn’t show much of the power that he had long been expected to provide (11 home runs, .438 slugging).

Of course, Montero was originally a catching prospect; now that he’s limited to first base and DH duties, the bar is raised for his bat. It’s not clear what kind of opportunity he’ll have in the future. For one thing, he’ll need to serve his ban at the start of 2017; for another, it’s not his first, as Montero also took a fifty-game hit after he was caught up in the Biogenesis scandal.

The Blue Jays outrighted Jesus Montero and Junior Lake to Triple-A Buffalo over the weekend, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm writes. Both were picked up by Toronto on waivers, and each went unclaimed after the Jays again ran them through waivers shortly thereafter, allowing Toronto to retain the pair despite both being out of minor league options. Montero, of course, was formerly one of baseball’s elite prospects in his Yankees days, and he went to Seattle in the now-lopsided Michael Pineda swap. The catcher-turned-first-baseman has yet to hit much in the Majors and was waived by Seattle this spring, though he could emerge as a nice platoon option in Toronto at the very least. At 26, it’s not out of the question that he could still emerge as a productive bat. (Toronto has had its share of success in late-blooming right-handed sluggers, after all.) Lake, meanwhile, enjoyed a strong rookie season with the Cubs in 2013 when he hit .284/.332/.428 in 254 plate appearances. However, the outfielder has batted just .209/.244/.345 in 410 PAs since that time. Like Montero, he’s 26 years of age and will hope for a shot at establishing himself in the hitter-friendly confines of Toronto’s Rogers Centre at some point this season.

The Twins released left-hander Aaron Thompson out of minor league camp at the end of Spring Training, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes. The 29-year-old Thompson broke camp with Minnesota in 2015 and wound up tallying 32 1/3 innings as a member of the Twins bullpen. However, after allowing one run in his first 11 innings (buoyed by an unsustainable .129 BABIP), Thompson logged a 7.17 ERA over 21 1/3 subsequent innings through mid-July before ultimately being sent down and outrighted. He’d re-signed with the Twins on a minor league deal this winter and will now look for a club in need of some left-handed ’pen depth, presumably.

The Blue Jays have claimed Jesus Montero off waivers from the Mariners, according to a Toronto press release. To create roster space, catcher A.J. Jimenez has been designated for assignment.

The move ends Montero’s four-year tenure with the Mariners, a stint that undoubtedly created frustration for both the player and the team. Montero was acquired in a trade that sent Michael Pineda to the Yankees, a rare case of two blue chip prospects being swapped in the same deal. The M’s were counting on Montero to become a fixture in their lineup, but instead he hit .247/.285/.383 with 24 homers in 796 PA as a Mariner.

Montero’s checkered time in Seattle included several trips to the minors, injuries, defensive issues that turned him from a catcher into a first baseman/DH, weight problems, a 50-game suspension as part of the Biogenesis PED scandal and a bizarre altercation with a minor league coach in 2014 that saw him banned for the last month of the season.

Despite all of this baggage, Montero was still putting up big numbers at the Triple-A level and is just 26 years old. For a player who was considered a consensus top-five prospect in the sport just five years ago, Toronto may feel it’s worth a low-risk signing to see if a change of scenery unlocks Montero’s potential.

Montero is out of options, which complicates things for the Jays since they don’t have an obvious roster spot for him. Edwin Encarnacion is the everyday DH with Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak splitting the first base duties, so as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm notes, the Blue Jays may have to try and sneak Montero through waivers again if they intend to keep him.

Jimenez has a reputation as a good defensive catcher and he has hit .272/.314/.381 over 1923 minor league PA. Once considered a possible catcher of the future for the Jays, Jimenez was ranked as the 14th-best prospect in the club’s system by Baseball America prior to the 2014 season before slipping to 23rd in 2015 to out of the top 30 entirely this year. His lack of progress at the plate was a factor in his slide down the rankings and he also has a significant injury history, including Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for much of 2012. Like Montero, Jimenez was also out of options.

7:28pm: Montero has indeed been placed on waivers, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). The Mariners will make an official announcement tomorrow once the 48-hour waiver period has passed, according to MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter).

12:46pm: While there is no official word on the matter, it appears that the Mariners have placed Jesus Montero on waivers, as Bob Dutton of The News Tribune writes. The Mariners declined to speak about Montero’s status on Sunday morning, but his locker in the clubhouse was empty.

When asked about Montero’s whereabouts, manager Scott Servais told reporters that the designated hitter is “spending a day with his family.” Montero’s absence on Sunday coupled with the news that Dae-Ho Leehas been added to the 40-man roster seems to suggest that former top prospect is out of the picture in Seattle.

The Mariners traded right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda for the 26-year-old prior to the 2012 season. Since then, he’s disappointed by accruing -1.4 WAR over parts of four seasons. He did enjoy an extremely successful stint at Triple-A last season, hitting .355/.398/.569 in 430 plate appearances.

Dae-Ho Lee can opt out of his minor league deal with the Mariners on Sunday and become a free agent if he isn’t on the 40-man roster, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. It seems as if Lee is on track to indeed make the M’s as the right-handed side of a first base platoon with Adam Lind, and Lee will earn a $1MM base salary if he makes the MLB roster (plus another $3MM in possible bonuses). If Lee beats out Jesus Montero for the job, Dutton figures the M’s will try to deal the out-of-options Montero before exposing him to the waiver wire.

Also from Dutton’s piece, the Mariners face the Tuesday deadline for Article XX(B) free agents to let Joel Peralta know if he’s made the roster, though Dutton figures Peralta is a pretty safe bet. Peralta signed a minor league deal with Seattle last month that will pay the 11-year veteran $1.25MM in guaranteed salary if he makes the M’s roster. While Peralta hasn’t had a great spring, his case has been helped by some injuries to other Mariners relievers.

Rangers outfielder Justin Ruggiano could become a trade target for clubs looking for outfield help, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal opines (Twitter link). Ruggiano signed a one-year, $1.65MM Major League deal with Texas in December to provide depth in left given Josh Hamilton’s injured status, though with Ian Diamond now signed as the regular left field, Ruggiano has become a bit of a surplus. Ruggiano turns 34 in April and owns an impressive .272/.336/.520 career slash line after left-handed pitching.

The Rangers could use a modified four-man rotation as a way of sidestepping a roster crunch in April, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News opines. The club’s fifth starter candidates operate as swingmen to cover both those spot starts and the role as eighth man in the bullpen. This could also allow Texas to keep out-of-options Sam Freeman rather than exposing him to waivers.

“A baseball team can’t ever be carried by one individual player. Yet Mike Trout comes the closest,” Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan writes in a piece about his site’s outfield projections. Trout’s projected 8.8 fWAR for 2016 almost single-handedly gives the Angels the best projected outfield in baseball (with right fielder Kole Calhoun contributing 2.8 fWAR and the Daniel Nava/Craig Gentry platoon in left at 0.7 fWAR). Sullivan feels Trout alone is keeping the Halos competitive, as without him, “the Angels are a group we’d think ought to be rebuilding….the Angels’ situation is miserable. They’d be a bad team with a bad farm system. That’s the worst situation to be in.”

In other AL West news from earlier today, the Astrosreleased veteran southpaw Neal Cotts…the Angelsshut downC.J. Wilson’s throwing program, and thus the lefty will be sidelined until at least May.

The Nationals are set to call up reliever Abel de los Santos, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. The 22-year-old was acquired over the offseason from the Rangers (along with infielder Chris Bostick) for Ross Detwiler. A hard-throwing righty, de los Santos had a 2.65 ERA, 8.44 K/9, and 1.69 BB/9 in 37 innings at Double-A. His promotion will necessitate a move on the Nationals’ 40-man roster which is currently full.

Evan Meek has signed with an unknown Korean team, reports Sung Min Kim of River Ave Blues. Meek, 32, threw 37 innings for the Nationals Triple-A affiliate this season. He posted a 2.15 ERA with 7.88 K/9 and 4.54 BB/9. A veteran of six major league campaigns, Meek has a career 3.63 ERA in 196 relief innings. He was an All Star in 2010 while playing with the Pirates.

The Mariners have optioned designated hitter Jesus Montero to Triple-A, writes Greg Johns of MLB.com. Montero, 25, was temporarily filling J.A. Happ’s roster spot. As many remember, the Yankees traded Montero for Michael Pineda during the 2012-2013 offseason. Neither player returned much value prior to this season, but Pineda has emerged as a force in the Yankees rotation and Montero is now showing some life too. During his five game audition, he went 3-for-10 with three walks and one strikeout. He’s hitting .332/.370/.529 at Triple-A with 15 home runs in 368 plate appearances.

The Brewers have released former 2009 second round pick Cameron Garfield, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Constitution. In parts of six seasons, Garfield failed to advance beyond High-A. This year, he hit .233/.267/.306 in 202 plate appearances. Per Haudricourt, the Brewers had five picks in the first two rounds of the 2009 draft. Garfield was the last one remaining in the system.

The Dodgers acquisition of Brandon Beachy could lead to a trade, writes Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Beachy will open the season on the disabled list, so his presence could be purely for depth purposes. However, if everybody is healthy when he’s ready to contribute, the team could consider dealing Zack Greinke or Hyun-jin Ryu. Greinke may opt out after the season which could make him expendable. A trade of Ryu seems unlikely since he can void his contract if dealt (via Twitter). Here’s more from out west.

The Dodgers and catcher Ali Solis have split ways over a contractual issue, reports Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Details are unknown at this time. Solis was a non-roster invite to the big league camp. He’s appeared briefly with the Padres and Rays, accruing 11 plate appearances in the process. He’s a career .243/.291/.363 hitter over his nine season minor league career.

Padres pitchers Josh Johnson and Brandon Morrow are familiar with rapid rebuilds, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Both players were with the Blue Jays in 2013 when they were picked to win the division. The team fizzled and finished last in the AL East. Johnson also experienced the 2012 rebuild of the Marlins. Both players point to chemistry and cohesiveness as an important missing element. Only time will tell if the Padres can bond together.

Every team has a player in the best shape of his life. One such to watch may be Mariners slugger Jesus Montero, writes Tim Brown of Yahoo. The once-prospect dropped 45 pounds from the hefty 275 he weighed last spring. Per manager Lloyd McClendon, “I think he’s in a much better place as a human being…The baseball skills, we’ll see.”

Jesus Montero has been a massive disappointment with the Mariners, but spent the offseason putting himself in position for a turnaround, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Montero is in great shape, as photo and video confirms, and is certainly young and talented enough to hold plenty of promise.

More from the west:

The Rangers are still looking at lefty Phil Coke and watched him throw again recently, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. GM Jon Daniels discussed the possibility of adding an arm today, noting that depth is always valuable but expressing interest in seeing his current group in camp. (Video via Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest.) While the club has to this point been unwilling to make Coke a major league offer, with the southpaw still holding out for a 40-man spot, Fraley notes that the bad news on Jurickson Profar will clear a big league roster space since he is destined for the 60-day DL.

As for the unfortunate news on Profar, the Rangers’ head baseball decisionmaker firmly rejected the idea that the prospect deserved criticism for trying to avoid surgery by rehab. While the news that a procedure would be required was not a total surprise, Daniels said that the 22-year-old infielder made the difficult decision for good reasons and worked very hard over the offseason. Certainly, Daniels did not sound like he was interested in giving up on Profar. “Fortunately, he’s still just 22 years old,” said the GM. “We’ll get him back and we’ll get him out there.”

Angels slugger Josh Hamilton is going to require a longer recovery from shoulder surgery than originally expected, as MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports. At this point, it isn’t even clear that Hamilton will be close enough to report to spring camp. It still does not seem that an addition will truly be necessary, with Matt Joyce on hand to step in. Hamilton’s absence will presumably also create additional opportunities for players like Collin Cowgill and waiver claimees Alfredo Marte and Roger Kieschnick.

There’s been a bit of speculation that left-hander J.A. Happ, acquired from the Blue Jays in the Michael Saunders trade, would pitch out of the bullpen, but McClendon quickly squashed that chatter. “We didn’t acquire Happ to pitch out of the bullpen,” McClendon said. “We can put all of that to rest. He will be pitching in our rotation.”

McClendon added that there will be a competition for only one spot in the rotation, though he declined to specify who on the club’s roster will definitively be joining Happ, Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma in the rotation. Dutton, however, writes that “all signs point” to James Paxton being guaranteed a spot, meaning that the fifth slot in the rotation will be a battle between Taijuan Walker, Roenis Elias and possibly Erasmo Ramirez.

Others could join that competition, as Zduriencik told the media that he’s hopeful of adding another starting pitcher, although further additions would likely come in the form of minor league deals with invitations to Spring Training. The Mariners would like any non-roster invitees to be able to provide depth in the minors, which may be a tough sell, Dutton notes, as veteran starters that will have to settle for minor league deals may prefer to sign with a club that presents a clearer path to a Major League roster spot.

The Mariners are likely to sign a veteran outfielder as well, Dutton writes. Zduriencik acknowledged that the team “may do a few little tinkerings” before Spring Training to bring in a veteran player or two that could compete for a job. Seattle has been linked to Endy Chavez on multiple occasions.

Seattle is very happy with Jesus Montero’s offseason conditioning, as the former top prospect has lost roughly 40 pounds and is down to the team’s target weight of 235 pounds. Said Zduriencik of Montero: “He appears to be a guy who, maybe, the lights have gone on for him. He’s going to get a chance in spring training. We’ll see.”

Left-hander Joe Beimel is still a “possibility” for the club, Dutton writes. The 37-year-old Beimel (38 in April) posted a 2.20 ERA with 5.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 49.6 percent ground-ball rate in 45 innings for Seattle last season. He also held left-handed hitters to a paltry .188/.217/.288 batting line.

Dutton also provides updates on a few of the club’s top prospects and injury updates on Elias, Willie Bloomquist, Danny Hultzen and Dustin Ackley in addition to discussing what is likely to be a Spring battle between Brad Miller and Chris Taylor to see who will be the Mariners’ everyday shortstop. The entire roundup is worth a look for Mariners fans.